Hang History, Links, and MILLTONE Steel Tongue, Tuning

The MILLTONE instrument is sometimes called a metal slit drum, Hank drum, or Tank drum. The MILLTONE instrument is no longer made from a Propane tank, though early models were, and other people still make them that way. It is not a Hang drum ( Hang is pronounced “Hung”). Originating in Switzerland, the Hang is the marvelous creation of Felix Rohner and Sabina Schärer around the year 2000. Their instrument has more in common with a Steel Pan drum.  Visit the Wikipedia page,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang_drum .

Here is Manu Delago playing.

It was this Hang drum and the difficulty to get one, that inspired Dennis Havlena to build the first Propane Tank, or Hank, instrument. He offers plans so you can try to make your own Hank drum on his website, http://dennishavlena.com/ along with many, many other wonderful musical creations.

Dennis Havlena playing his “Hank” drum.

The MILLTONE drum is now easily user tunable. MILLTONE creator, Larry Miller, was the first to use Magnets for easy concert tuning adjustments back in early 2008.

Old MILLTONE Magnetic tuning demo.

The Hang drum, like a PanArt, HALO, BELLArt,  can require periodic tuning maintenance by an expert with a hammer, yet these are wonderful instruments with a large following and long waiting lists. The MILLTONE can be fine tuned by simply sliding the provided tuning magnets up or down on the underside of the tongue. This feature allows for easy and extremely precise tuning by the MILLTONE owner. After the instrument coating is completely cured, tuning is very stable, so further adjustments may not be necessary. Should you decide you would like to paint your MILLTONE a different color, the tuning can be adjusted to compensate for the extra mass of the new coating by sliding the magnets down a little. Great for the long term value of the instrument and ease of ownership.